Independent Christian Science articles

One with God Is a Majority, and You Are that One

From Association Address of 1912 by

Mesmerism in the mass is to be mentally handled just as it would be in the unit. Ten thousand shadows are no more substantial than one. Let us suppose a political situation where a great mass of voters are mesmerized into supporting measures that are corrupt. If you want to give the situation the benefit of scientific treatment, your first move would be to declare the allness of Spirit and the nothingness of matter, the power of good and the impotence of evil. Know and declare that no aggregation of evil can stand against the omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence of divine Mind.

Enlarge on this line, and then proceed to make your treatment more specific. Know and declare that the welfare and progress of your nation cannot be hampered or blocked by any individual or group of unscrupulous politicians, for God is on the field when He is most invisible. Know further, that no matter how unpromising the outlook may be, God has infinite ways and means of foiling error’s most strenuous effort and of defeating its nefarious schemes. Further expand your treatment by declaring that one with God is a majority, and you are that one. Whether your mental work will be the little leaven that will leaven the whole lump, I cannot say. But I do know that your endeavors will not be fruitless, and will bring peace and protection to you and yours.

The Devil’s Auction

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It was once announced that the devil was going out of business and would offer his tools for sale to whoever would pay his price. On the night of the sale they were all attractively displayed, and a bad looking lots they were. Malice, envy, hatred, jealousy, sensuality, deceit, and all the other implements of evil were spread out, each marked with its price. Apart from all the rest lay a harmless looking, wedge-shaped tool, much worn and priced higher than any of the others. Someone asked the devil what it was. “That’s discouragement,” was the reply. “Well, why do you have it priced so high?” “Because,” replied the devil, “it is more useful to me than any of the others. I can pry open and get inside a man’s consciousness with that when I couldn’t get near him with any of the others, and when once inside I can use it with nearly everybody, as very few people yet know that it belongs to me!” “You say you use this wedge of discouragement with nearly everybody – with whom can’t you use it?” The devil hesitated a long time and finally said in a low voice, “I can’t use it in getting into the consciousness of a grateful man.” It hardly need be added that the devil’s price for discouragement was so high that it was never sold. He still owns it and he is still using it.

Joy

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Rejoice always! It is a mistake to confine joy to circumstances or things. He who can rejoice even when things go wrong is the one for whom things will soon go right. Light and joy go hand in hand, as do darkness and sorrow; but as light dispels darkness, so does joy dissolve sorrow. The two cannot exist in the same place at the same time. There are no tears in heaven; since, as Mrs. Eddy says, “All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation.” (S&H)

But joy is not merely an effect: it may be said to be a cause also. It is not only a result of harmonious conditions, it produces them. It is a great restorer. To say of a friend, “He is happy because he is well,” may indicate a wrong concept; for it may be that he is well because he is happy. Work for joy. It pays better wages than sorrow, selfishness, and sin all combined. He who smiles often when he is alone — alone with God — knows that God is Love; and God knows that he knows.

Heaven is commonly pictured as a place where joy reigns and the angels sing. But the angels never sing dirges. The thoughts that pass from God to man are clothed in lightness and brightness. Their wings are of joy, not of feathers. They soar upwards; but they can also descend to us. Where do we look for them? Down? Never! Straight ahead? Sometimes! Up? Always! Look forward and look upward for the good that cometh down from “the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

Joy is the outcome of faith. The Psalmist wrote, “In Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Christian Science brings joy, just as Spring brings flowers, through quickening forces that operate unseen.

True joy comes in working for God, in obedience to Truth. Knowing this, Mrs. Eddy has placed an obligation upon the shoulders of every member of her church, the obligation of a selfless daily appeal to divine Mind for the establishment of the reign of eternal harmony in each individual consciousness. With the words, “It shall be the duty,” she has given us the Daily Prayer, which reads, “‘Thy kingdom come;’ let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin; and may Thy word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them!” (Man.)

This daily duty is a binding obligation, but never a burdensome one. It imparts a sense of serenity, it gives a freedom that is inseparable from Love. It tends to shape approaching events harmoniously, and gives foresight, confidence, and ability to do in the best way the things that are to be done. It imparts a joyous tinge that colors and brightens the whole day.

Love is the liberator.